The Gold Group Planning Team works closely with the majority of top employers throughout the UK & overseas, on projects covering transportation, build & construction, water treatment, oil & gas & a whole lot more. Being so well established in this highly proactive market means we are in a very good position to be able to fill roles on either a freelance or permanent basis. 

From an employer’s point of view, we are able to provide staff to the planning, project controls and claims industries either on a contingency recruitment basis or by carrying out an executive search campaign.

The high demand for Planners, Project Control specialists & Claims related staff reflects the fact that the market is currently stronger than it has ever been and, with an increasing number of vacancies to fill, things could not be better for prospective candidates, who may be looking for their next step up the ladder, or perhaps to transfer their skills to an alternative market sector.

Part of the reason for the strength of the market, aside from the buoyancy of the overall construction market, is the fact that planning is taking an every more central role in build management, particularly as planning is central to both timescales and cost.

In addition to ensuring that construction is completed safely to a high technical standard, the Planning Engineer or Project Control Engineer’s role is to develop the most appropriate method & sequence of construction operations for a particular project, with a particular eye on timescales and costs. Their role is to plan & oversee the entire programme of work, anticipating a contract's demands in terms of labour, materials, equipment & technical challenges. The Planning Engineer is also responsible for specifying the timing of the contract, which can be a major responsibility when penalty clauses for late completion are written into project contracts. All these major decisions are taken in close consultation with senior management

In terms of the detail of the planner’s role, typical work activities include selecting the appropriate techniques & sequence of events for a particular project, presenting schedules of work, often with visual aids such as bar charts & procedures diagrams, using specialist planning computer software (such as Primavera, Microsoft, Asta), monitoring progress throughout the construction process & comparing this with the projected schedule of work, liaising with the project delivery team throughout the process, making adjustments to projects as necessary and providing advice & support on the development of specific systems.

Commonly used planning tools include:

·         MS Project 

·         Primavera P3

·         Primavera P3e

·         Primavera P3ec

·         Primavera Suretrak

·         Asta Teamplan

·         Asta Powerproject

·         CS Project

These are all project management software tools designed to assist Planning Engineers, Project Control Specialists and Claims Planners in developing plans, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets & analysing workloads. They are used across a very broad spectrum of industries including; Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Civil Engineering, Utilities, Construction, Transportation, Telecommunication, Finance and many more.

For a more detailed picture of the current planning, project controls or claims market, please call our Planning & Claims recruitment team on 01342 330 535 or email us on: